According to figures recently released by the National Treasury Agency, compensation payments made by the State for personal injury, property damage and clinical negligence claims rose by 46 per cent in 2010.
The amount of compensation paid out by the State last year totalled in excess of 93.2 million Euros; however the total estimated liability on outstanding claims is fast approaching 1 billion Euros.
The massive leap has been attributed to an increase in civil actions for malpractice against hospitals and medical practitioners, which for the first time has become the responsibility of the State Claims Agency rather than the Health Service Executive’s.
Speaking last September, Minister for Health Mary Harney commented on the growing trend of clinical negligence claims, stating that the failure to protect patient safety in hospitals was having economic as well as human consequences. During 2010, the State Claims Agency resolved 1,690 claims, but at the end of the year still had 4,114 claims outstanding.